HYDERABAD: Seeking a legal right status to their two demands- one that of assured remunerative prices for agricultural produce and second, that of farmers’ freedom from debts, members of 190 farmers’ organisation, including 25 from Telangana, met in the city on Thursday to take the discourse and struggle forward. The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee has been leading a nationwide farmers’ movement on these two demands in particular.
Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav, addressing the gathering, said that farmers today were facing a crisis of three kinds _ economic, ecological and existential. “The government’s economic survey says the first victim of climate change is going to be the farmer and that the farmer’s income has not improved in the last four years. Yet, this government has been the worst of the anti-farmer governments ever,” he said.
“If minimum support prices (MSPs) are fixed by the Centre, why should states be the implementing agencies? If the Centre and states can come together on GST and for forming the GST Council for fixing tax rates, why can’t the two come together for betterment of farmers,” Yadav wondered while chatting with Express.
National Alliance of People’s Movements leader Sunilam pointed out that Indian farmers had lost Rs 33,000 crore in Kharif 2017 due to the big gap between the government-fixed MSPs and the actual market prices. “The government has failed to fix MSPs as per the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations for a decade now,” he said.